A collection of humorous stories about a kid's life in a Midwestern industrial city in the 1930s, written in the 1960s. The stories are supposed to be fiction but are loosely based on the author's childhood in Hammond, Indiana.
The main character, Ralph Parker, returns to his hometown of Hohman, Indiana and pays a visit to a local bar where an old friend of his now works as bartender. Together they chat and recall the good old days as kids roaming the streets of a very grimy city where the main industry is steel production. Pollution often figures prominently in his descriptions of his Hohman.
The first story tells of a young boy's desire for an air rifle and how he finally gets one, only to nearly shoot his own eye out.
Next, Ralph desperately wants a Little Orphan Annie secret decoder pin. Little Orphan Annie was one of Ralph's favorite radio programs and it was sponsored by Ovaltine, a malt beverage mix. To get the decoder pin, you had to send in a proof of purchase from several containers of Ovaltine. But Ralph's mom never buys Ovaltine.
The next story is the tale of a blind date when Ralph is fourteen years old. It doesn't go quite as he thought and he finds out something rather devastating about himself.
The next story is a fish story. It's a bit strange, more odd than amusing.
Next is maybe one of the most famous stories in the book, the Leg Lamp Story. Although he never names the soft drink, it's Nehi. And at one point it did feature a woman's stocking-clad leg on its label. I don't know if the Leg Lamp really was a prize offered by Nehi in a contest, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was.
All in all, the stories are interesting and mildly amusing and a look back at time nearly a hundred years ago.
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